“Probably most people who have kids would say that their ultimate thing would have something to do with their kids. But if you don’t have kids, you really have to think about it. You don’t have that much else to focus on.” She says part of the reason she and her husband decided not to have children was that she’d worry so much about them. “The schools are so awful."

his wife Sue is explaining how Michael was forced to attend a vital department meeting two days after their 1982 wedding. She jokes that she’ll never forgive him for this and then calls Michael “the biggest kid of all.” Sue also points out that whether he’s changing an infant’s diapers, petting a cat, or cooking, Michael virtually always has a book in his hand. All three of his kids declare that they’ve never lost a wrestling match with their dad.

Reina believes Mexican films and Madonna are the true sources of the hair and makeup fads. “You know,” she says, “the movie stars, they always, they are, like, the ones that started with this heavy makeup. Like Madonna? Heavy lipstick. Sometime they’ll go back to red lips. Now we’re going to black lips.”

I used to work on a morning show for Magic 102, a former classic rock station here in San Diego. I usually got to work before the other DJs, and I’d spend a few minutes talking to the overnight jock. One morning he was asking me questions about a DJ that worked with us. I thought it was a little unusual, because we never talked about this person before. We usually just talked about basketball or the weirdos that call in at 2:00 a.m.

"Actually, it’s a lovely place, in some ways. Lovely beaches, as a matter of fact, and some lovely hotels. Great zoo, too). And the deserts, of course. No, really, it’s a lovely place. Great climate, too. Are there things to do in the evening? Oh, yes, it’s a big city. It has an opera. A lovely opera, actually. Full of elderly folks? Not at all. What, crime? No, no, it’s not L.A. And it’s wonderfully clean. Lovely streets. Lovely parks. Lovely aquarium. Lovely. Great.”

"As I entered a deserted stretch of road, I felt a warm bright light.... I just wasn’t prepared for the sight that met my eyes. He was sitting there in the white suit he had been buried in, the one his father had given him the Christmas of 1976. He had an almost unearthly beauty about him. I wanted to reach out and touch him but was afraid he would disappear."